14 Months in Office: Council of State, NGF Pass Confidence Vote on Tinubu’s Leadership

•Appreciate Nigerians for resisting unconstitutional change of govt 

•Seven ministers make presentations to council

•Alake: Anyone not satisfied with our government should wait for next election to cast their vote 

•Edun paints optimistic outlook, says economy is growing 

•NSA: Nobody will be allowed to truncate our hard earned democracy

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

In their collective push for a better Nigeria, National Council of State (NCS) and Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), at separate meetings yesterday, passed a vote of confidence on the 14-month-old administration of President Bola Tinubu.

NCS, comprising past presidents, some ministers and governors, among others, held their maiden meeting, with Tinubu presiding, at Council Chambers of State House, Abuja, and NGF, thereafter, met with the president at the same venue.

The council of state meeting was attended by former presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Goodluck Jonathan, with former Heads of State, General Yakubu Gowon and Abdulsalami Abubakar, attending virtually. Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and erstwhile military President Ibrahim Babangida were absent.

Briefing newsmen after the meetings, Chairman of NGF and Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, stated that the two meetings came up with a resolution to pass a confidence vote on Tinubu following presentations by some of his ministers on the implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the administration.

Abdulrazaq said, “We, indeed, had a very robust meeting. The high note of the meeting was a unanimous passage of a vote of confidence on President Bola Tinubu, Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

“Members, especially those of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, were satisfied with the presentation by the members of the Federal Executive Council, and after that meeting, there was an executive session between members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Mr President, and frank and fruitful discussions were held between both parties, and I’m glad to say we’re on the right track.

“And to say in the same vein, members of the NGF also, like the members of the council of state, passed a vote of confidence on Mr President. We also wished him well and prayed for God’s guidance for him.”

Equally briefing newsmen on the outcome of the council of state meeting, Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, said the well-attended meeting was an eloquent testimony to the kind of support Tinubu enjoyed.

Alake explained that many issues were discussed at the meeting, with seven members of the Tinubu cabinet making presentations before the council members.

He stated, “A lot of issues were exhaustively discussed at the meeting. And, of course, you know that apart from the former Heads of State, the constitutional composition of the council of state includes all governors, security adviser, Attorney General, and the rest. So, the governors were all in attendance as well.”

He said some ministers were invited to make presentations at the council of state meeting “on our roadmap on what we’ve been able to achieve, the prospects and the challenges in our various ministries”.

Besides, himself, Alake said others who made presentations included Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite; Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi; and Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari.

Alake said, “These seven of us, ministers, made individual presentations to the council of state meeting, and our presentations were well-received, from the feedback that we got immediately after individual presentations.”

He revealed that other matters of state, including the security situation in the country, were extensively discussed.

The minister also said the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, assured that the country was well secured, despite the recent protests across the country, which became violent in some places.

He said NCS appreciated Nigerians for resisting any attempt to unconstitutionally effect a change of government in the country.

According to Alake, “Matters of state were discussed in a robust manner and frank manner. And the National Security Adviser also was on hand to present the security situation of the country.

“And he did inform the council of state about the pre, during and post event of the last protests, which I do not call a protest. I call it a movement to effect a change of regime by force, which was also resisted.

“The council thanked Nigerians at large for resisting any unconstitutional move to change government. If anybody is not satisfied with the government, any current administration, there is always an election coming, so you wait for election and cast your vote.

“So, the NSA briefed the council on the security situation, and allayed fears all round. After the NSA’s briefing, generally, he allayed everybody’s fears and spoke on the tightness of the security around the country, and also reassured all and sundry that nobody will be allowed to truncate our hard earned democracy.

“Any change of government has to be through the ballots and not through the barrel of the gun or through insurrection or through any other unconstitutional means, only through the ballot box can any government be changed.

“And he reassured the nation on the security readiness of all security agencies in the country, to secure our territorial integrity and to protect Nigeria’s democracy.”

Alake stated, regarding the details of the discussions, “Now, the details of the presentation that the ministers did will be too long for you. But succinctly put, it is just to let the council of state know the progress being made in each sector of the economy. And the emphasis, of course, by the Renewed Hope Agenda, is on economic diversification.

“And that’s why I was there. That’s why agric was there. That’s why all the other ministers you know that constitute, or the ministries that constitute the plank of the Renewed Hope Agenda, economic diversification and transformation.”

On his part, Edun told newsmen that he had a robust engagement with the council of state members.

He stated, “We did have the opportunity and the privilege to present to the council of state, and, in particular, the former presidents, who turned out in large number to participate, and we had the opportunity to, in my case, update them on the economy.

“Update them on how far progress had been made in terms of the macroeconomic policies being followed under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, and these policies are anchored in his eight priority areas and the results to date have been very encouraging.

“We looked at the data, or we reported on the evidence and the data of this half year for which data was available, compared to the first quarter and the second quarter of 2023. And in broad terms, the economy is growing.

“The balance of payments, in particular, the trade balance and a current account balance are in surplus. The exchange rate is stabilising, and inflation, though high, uncomfortably high for the liking of Mr. president and his team, it is slowing and it is set to fall.

“But, in particular, there has been support for the economy from investors, foreign investors, by way of portfolio investors, domestic investors, who are participating in important private public partnerships, particularly infrastructure sector and foreign direct investment, is beginning to recover, I would say so.

“On that basis, we reported on, in particular, the opportunities for the economy once stabilised for investment and growth, and identified for the meeting the fact that we have exports, goods exports, non-oil exports, at $55 billion last year with tremendous room to grow.

“We identified that the service sector, that is software services, computer services, accounting services, personnel services, which can be provided by young Nigerians staying in Nigeria and providing services through the internet and through telephones, outsourcing in a world was a big area.

“So in a nutshell, we reported that there was good progress being made, that the effort was going to continue to ensure that the interventions and measures to ameliorate the high cost of living for individuals, for the agricultural sector, for industry, for small scale businesses, were going to continue to be implemented with all efforts needed for success.

“And on that basis, we reported an optimistic outlook for the Nigerian economy and the Nigerian society, in general, as a result of prospects for economic growth and economic progress.”